Alessa Therapeutics – a clinical-stage drug development company pioneering an innovative and proprietary localized drug delivery technology for the early interception of cancer and other diseases – announced the closing of a $15 million seed funding round led by Mission BioCapital joined by Johnson & Johnson (through its corporate venture capital organization, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC)., and a representative of JJDC will join the Board of Directors at Alessa Therapeutics.
Alessa will use the funding to advance the development of its lead program, Enolen, a novel enzalutamide-eluting seed implant for treating localized prostate cancer. Alessa recently announced the start of a first-in-human trial with Enolen in collaboration with the NCI, and the company anticipates initial data to read out next year. Alessa’s Enolen program builds on the company’s successful proof of concept for the approach with Biolen – which was presented at the 39th Annual EAU Congress (EAU24, April 2024) in Paris, France, and at the AUA Annual Meeting (May 2024) in San Antonio, TX.
Prostate cancer is known as the most common cancer among men in the US. And according to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 299,010 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024 in the United States alone. Patients with low-risk prostate cancer face difficult treatment decisions between potentially invasive surgical and ablative procedures or active surveillance. Even though many efficacious therapeutics have been developed for regional and metastatic disease, to date, they have failed to move forward to patients with localized low-risk disease, given their adverse-event profiles.
Alessa’s proprietary localized drug-delivering implants are designed for sustained release of an anti-androgen selectively to the prostate, thus limiting systemic side effects despite providing therapeutic concentrations in the prostate.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are appreciative of the support provided by this syndicate of leading life science industry investors. Alessa is well positioned to advance our pipeline and leverage our platform of tissue-targeted drug delivery for the treatment of prostate cancer and other solid organ diseases. This funding enables us to pursue our mission and bring new medicines to patients who desperately need more effective treatments.”
- Pamela Munster, M.D., Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Alessa
